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    Home » Appetizers/Snacks

    Published: Jan 27, 2012 · Modified: May 6, 2023 by Usha Rao

    Almond, Vanilla & White Chocolate Cookies

    For the fifth day of the marathon, I am posting almond vanilla cookies from Amulya’s blog, a pastry chef from Melbourne, Australia. When planning for the marathon and making a list of chocolate recipes to post, I remembered her blog. I was meaning to cook something from her blog for the past one month and have been procrastinating.

    I decided to bake Almond Vanilla White Chocolate cookies as it goes with my marathon theme. She baked these cookies from a cookbook her friend had gifted her. I baked the cookies last Friday, picked out the pictures for the post and all I had to do was compose the draft and the recipe. And there is a reason why I chose to post the recipe today, although I could have posted it yesterday instead of chocolate canapes.

    I met Amulya in an online community almost 4 years ago. She was a very sweet, hardworking, determined and down to earth woman with a cute small. She was full of life, energy and up for any challenge that life threw at her. I never met her personally and my only interaction with her was in this online community and on Facebook, commenting on status updates and photos. She got busy at work, left the community and stopped updating her blog.

    She was active on Facebook and it was the only medium to know a little of what was happening in her life. She was always outspoken about her rheumatoid arthritis and how difficult it was getting for her, as she had to be on her feet all day, due to her profession, a pastry chef. She had a few health issues but nothing serious, so we (virtual friends from this community) thought.

    Blogging Marathon, Chocolate Mela, Bake Fest, White Chocolate chip Cokies, Almond cookies,

    Last month, on Dec 28, we were shocked to learn about her demise and were awestruck! She had passed away the day before. She was young, in her early 30s and none of us knew how serious her health condition was. Three four months ago, she went back to India on her parents insistence to get herself treated and we all thought she was getting better. Apparently not! 🙁 The irony of all this is, she came from a family of doctors, her parents (I think even her mother is a doctor) and both her siblings are doctors and yet, she could not be saved.

    The news of her demise was shocking and I was even more shocked at how much it had impacted me. It took me almost 5 days to come out of this shock. Every few hours I went to her Facebook profile hoping someone would say this is all a rumor and she is doing fine. I wish it were a rumor and unfortunately it wasn’t! Each time I saw her FB wall, the sadder I became. Yet, I would go back an hour later wishing to hear some good news. Even though I never met her, I was amazed and shocked at my own reaction to her death, and was surprised how much it had disturbed me.

    I wish and pray to god to give her parents & family enough strength to get over this terrible, untimely loss. I also wish I had baked these cookies sooner to let Amulya know how much I liked them. I know your are watching from somewhere out there and are thrilled to know someone on this planet has tried your recipe! 🙂 Where ever you are Amu, rest in peace! We all miss you!

    Today is one month anniversary of her passing away and I decided to post this recipe today, as tribute to her.

    Coming to the recipe, I followed the recipe exactly as given and the cookies came out perfect, melted in mouth as soon as I took a bite! The only glitch I had during the baking was figuring out the baking time. The recipe called for baking for 20 minutes and my first batch of cookies burnt. The second batch, I baked for 13 ½ minutes and the cookies baked perfect. Amu did mention that if we are using a fan operated oven, we ought to reduce the oven temperature but I don't know if my oven is fan operated. I think that was the mistake I made. I should have baked at 325 F (160 C) for 20 minutes or should have baked for 13 ½ minutes at 350 F (180 C). This proves the statement oven temperatures vary from oven to oven.

    Blogging Marathon, Chocolate Mela, Bake Fest, White Chocolate chip Cokies, Almond cookies,

    Source: Amu's Crazy World
    Total Time: 40 - 45 (for 2 batches)
    Preparation: 10 - 15 minutes
    Baking: 28 minutes (13 ½ minutes per batch)
    Yields: 30

    Ingredients:

    • 125 grams Unsalted Butter softened (I left it on counter top for 2 hours)
    • 1 cup Superfine Sugar
    • 1 Egg at room temperature
    • 1 tsp. Vanilla Extract
    • ½ tsp. Salt
    • 125 grams White Chocolate Chips
    • 60 grams Sliced Almonds (can use silvered almonds or whole almonds sliced)
    • 1 ¾ cup Self Raising Flour**

    ** I substituted I cup Self Raising Flour with 1 cup All Flour Purpose + 1 ½ tsp. Baking Powder + ¼ tsp. Salt. Substitution ratio from Joy of Baking

    Preparation:

    • Preheat the oven to 350 F.
    • Line the baking / cookie sheet with baking / parchment paper.
    • Sift together flour and salt. I did not have self-rising flour and made it at home with the ratios mentioned above **. I made 2 cups of flour and used 1 ¾ cup for the recipe. I found this was easier than calculating the ratios for making ¾ cup self-rising flour.
    • Take soften butter and sugar in a bowl and beat it using and electric beater. I used my hand held electric beater/mixer. Beat it until the mixture is fluffy and pale.
    • Add egg and vanilla extract and beat well to incorporate the egg. Do not over beat the mixture.
    • Add self-rising flour and fold in using a spoon or a spatula.
    • Add the chocolate chips and mix well. At this point, I wound it easy to use my hands to mix the dough.
    • Make 30 equal size balls and place them on the cookie sheet an inch apart. These cookies raise a lot when baking. Also, I lightly pressed the balls to flatten them. Press just lightly. This step can be skipped, as we will be doing this step again.
    • Bake in the pre-heated oven for 8 minutes (recipe said 10 minutes).
    • Lightly press the cookies, with very little pressure using your finger tips and put them bake in the oven to bake for another 5 ½ minutes (recipe called for 10 minutes).
    • The cookies are done when they are light golden color. The other way to check if the cookie is done is, when you lift the cookie off the baking sheet, it should come off without breaking.
    • Remove them from the cookie sheet and cool on a cooling rack.
    • Serve when cool and store the rest in an air tight container.

    Notes:

    • As I mentioned, oven temperatures vary from oven to oven. The recipe called for 20 minutes of baking but mine were done in 13 ½ minutes. Please use your discretion here.
    • I am cut & pasting Amu’s note. "Please Note: The Oven Types and Temperatures vary for each and every one of us... So please bake them accordingly... If using a Fan-forced oven the temperature should reduced by 20*C (i.e 160*C). But the tip to check if your biscuits or cookies are done is given above so varying oven temperatures should not be a Problem...:-)"

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    1. Janette says

      March 15, 2014 at 2:31 pm

      I made these cookies because they looked so so, set my fan oven to 325 and used your flour substitutions to all purpose: my cookies turned out like flat pancakes 🙁 But, they taste good!

      Reply
      • MySpicyKitchen says

        March 15, 2014 at 3:05 pm

        Janette, I am sorry your cookies did not raise 🙁 I don't know what went wrong.

        Reply
    2. priya srinivasan says

      January 30, 2012 at 4:46 am

      Wonderful Tribute to Amulya!!! cookies look yum!!!

      Reply
    3. Hema says

      January 29, 2012 at 11:36 pm

      heartfelt condolence to your friend. nice tribute to her.

      Great cookies.

      Reply
    4. Kalyani says

      January 29, 2012 at 11:53 am

      a perfect tribute to a wonderful person... RIP Amulya...

      yummy cookies, and am sure she would love to see you making this for her...

      Reply
    5. sravani says

      January 28, 2012 at 6:20 pm

      very yummy cookies !! thanks for linking to the event !!

      Ongoing Event - CC-Chocolate Fest

      Reply
    6. Rajani says

      January 28, 2012 at 12:39 pm

      Its a wonderful tribute.

      Reply
    7. sayantani says

      January 28, 2012 at 12:17 pm

      awesome cookies.

      Reply
    8. veena says

      January 28, 2012 at 9:59 am

      That is a very nice Gesture...

      Reply
    9. Divya Vikram says

      January 27, 2012 at 11:25 pm

      Cookies look just perfect 🙂

      Reply
    10. Cool Lassie says

      January 27, 2012 at 11:22 pm

      While I am positive that they were a blast, I would have actually preferred the usual brown chocolate chips instead of the white ones.. They would have made the cookies eye-catching.. Hehe, that is just me..

      Reply
    11. Gayathri Kumar says

      January 27, 2012 at 11:20 pm

      Sorry to hear about Amulya. RIP Amulya. The cookies have come out nice and looks so inviting...

      Reply
    12. Bhagi says

      January 27, 2012 at 10:06 pm

      It is very thoughtful of you Usha. I remember the first time I interacted Amu. She brought a smile to my face:). May her soul rest in peace.I will try these out for sure.

      Reply
    13. booboosmamma says

      January 27, 2012 at 9:44 pm

      Very nice gesture Usha.
      Amu chudu, we are missing you. come back 🙁

      Reply
    14. Smitha says

      January 27, 2012 at 8:28 pm

      May she rest in peace!....so sweet of u to do this!....I know we become so close friends even only virtually! the cookies look lovely!
      BTW same pinch i posted cookies too!

      Reply
    15. Srivalli says

      January 27, 2012 at 7:47 pm

      That's really terrible to hear about Amu. We used to chat up so often on FB and emails. Since I have not been regular on FB never realized. That's so sad. I can understand how it must have been Usha and so sweet of you to do this.

      Reply
    16. Anu says

      January 27, 2012 at 6:27 pm

      Yum cookies. Happy following u... First time here

      Reply
    17. Nalini says

      January 27, 2012 at 4:47 pm

      Delicious and yummy cookies,tempting clicks....

      Reply
    18. Mireille says

      January 27, 2012 at 3:59 pm

      I just stocked up on chips a few days ago - white chocolate,mint, butterscotch, etc. - this is a great recipe for me to use the white chips!

      Reply
      • Tessy says

        April 17, 2012 at 6:50 am

        Are good quality Choc. chips available in India(Goa)?

        Reply
    19. Pradnya says

      January 27, 2012 at 12:53 pm

      Hey Usha, this is thought provoking post, RIP Amulya, have been to her space on and off, never knew abt the life behind in detail.

      Recipe has come out very well.

      Reply
    20. Nisha says

      January 27, 2012 at 12:33 pm

      Thanks for your comment, it led me to your blog first time!
      Was surfing around your past posts & wondered if you're on a chocolate marathon, and read that you are!
      How's the chocolatey week going? 😀

      Reply
    21. Priya says

      January 27, 2012 at 12:27 pm

      Oh god, never knew about her demise, i rarely visited her space before..RIP Amulya..

      Btw cookies looks truly marvellous, lovely tribute Usha..

      Reply
    22. harini-jaya says

      January 27, 2012 at 12:15 pm

      These cookies are truly a tribute for the young chef!!

      Reply
    23. Sruthi says

      January 27, 2012 at 12:13 pm

      That is really sweet of you Usha.. I am sure Amu had a smile after this post of yours.. Never really tried cookies before.. But will try this for Amu and your thoghtfulness!!

      Reply
    24. Suma Gandlur says

      January 27, 2012 at 12:13 pm

      Thhey look very yummy, Usha. Though I never knew about Amulya, I feel sorry.

      Reply

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